Elvis Costello, Steve Winwood, More To Guest On Gov’t Mule’s ‘Shout’

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“Gov’t Mule is almost finished with a new release that we’re hoping to have out in September. The upcoming tour is called ‘Prepare To Shout,’ the record is called Shout. I also think–at the risk of sounding cliche–this is possibly the best record we’ve ever done. The band feels great, sounds great. The significance of the title, Shout, is that we are going to create a bonus disc with alternate versions of the same songs with a bunch of different singers. The alternate versions will be someone other than myself singing.”

The unconventional concept apparently began when Haynes asked Costello for microphone advice. One of the new songs, “Funny Little Tragedy,” reminded him of the Clash or Elvis from his Attractions era. So he asked Costello what kind of mic he should use to get the late ’70s/early ’80s vocal sound.

“Elvis sent me a very elaborate response explaining how he recorded this vocal and how he recorded that vocal, going all the way back to My Aim is True,” Haynes said in a statement. “I was really happy to get his response and I wound up using the Shure SM58, which is about a $100 microphone, and it turned out great. That was the first seed that was planted for Shout! because from that point forward I started thinking it would be cool to hear Elvis sing this tune.”